Noticeboard

Noticeboard - 9 January 2025

Welcome back, and a Happy New Year! We hope you've enjoyed a good break over the festive period. This week's Noticeboard contains a message from Dr Sue Harrison, the latest Oracle Transition for Schools update, important finance information and more.

This week's noticeboard includes: 

Message from Dr Sue Harrison, Strategic Director of Children and Families

Dear colleagues

Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful and well-deserved break over the festive season and are feeling refreshed and energised for the Spring term!

I’m thrilled to announce that we have successfully recruited our team of School Improvement Advisors. These experts bring a wealth of experience and are eager to support our school improvement initiatives. Over the coming weeks, they will be introducing themselves to you, and I’m confident their contributions will be invaluable.

If you need any assistance in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the team at school.improvement@birmingham.gov.uk. They will be delighted to help.

We’ve reached that time in the calendar where it’s important for us to raise awareness and encourage parents and carers to submit their online applications for Reception and Year 2-3 admissions for entry in September 2025. The closing date for applications is 11:59pm on Wednesday, 15 January. Full details can be found on the council’s website – www.birmingham.gov.uk/schooladmissions – and advice and support is available from Children’s Services by calling 0121 303 1888 or emailing admissions@birmingham.gov.uk. Places will be announced on Primary National Offer Day, Wednesday, 16 April.  As we know, families who apply late are less likely to be offered one of their preferred schools so your support in ensuring families are aware of the process is greatly appreciated.

The Oracle Transition for Schools programme is ongoing and we will continue to ensure that the latest updates are readily available at Oracle transition for schools, updates, questions and answers. If schools haven’t already done so, there are a couple of important points to action as a matter of urgency and no later than Wednesday, 15 January please:

Chris Etheridge remains on hand to offer assistance so please do get in touch if you need anything at oracleschoolsrelationship@birmingham.gov.uk.

I’m pleased to say that we’re in the initial planning stages of our Headteacher Conference, scheduled for June. We’re crafting an exciting agenda that I’m sure you’ll all be eager to see. Please keep an eye out for further updates, and we look forward to your participation!

Thank you as always and wishing you a fabulous weekend ahead.

Sue

Oracle Transition for Schools Update

The latest updates can be found here: Oracle transition for schools, updates, questions and answers.

Archived Q&A can be found here: Archived Oracle Transition Q&A.

For any queries or further information please contact the team at oracleschoolsrelationship@birmingham.gov.uk

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Chequebook School VAT Return Process

Schools Finance is implementing a new process for monthly VAT Returns. Below is a list of documents both required for completion and supply.

The download includes the Annex A and the VAT Return form which must be completed, signed and returned in Excel format.

Download link: Chequebook school VAT return - New process | Birmingham City Council

Submission timetable and instructions for completion are included within the download.

Required supporting documents:

  • Bank statement
  • Unreconciled items
  • Full VAT Report
  • VAT Summary
  • Balances and reserves

Any missing documentation will result in the claim not been processed until it has been provided and any late submissions will be delayed until the following month.

For any queries, please contact the team at FullCBSMailbox@birmingham.gov.uk

Schools Financial Services Combined Strategic / Budget Financial Planning Tool

FAO: Headteachers and School Business Managers/Bursars

Schools Financial Services (SFS) Combined Strategic / Budget Financial Planning Tool is available for maintained Primary, Secondary and Special Schools to purchase.

As in previous years, we have separated the funding calculation element from our strategic reports to enable assumptions to be changed and modified throughout the year as and when announcements and guidance on future years funding are released from the DfE.

The template will calculate estimated outturns and key KPI’s when information on anticipated income, expenditure and funding has been input by the school. 

SFS can support schools with forecasting future years funding by sending you a pro-forma to complete which will enable us to calculate your estimated funding for future years in the following areas: S251, EYSFF, Teacher Pay and Pension Grant (where still separate), Pupil Premium, Growth, Resource Base and Post 16 funding. Once the pro-forma has been completed and returned you will receive a blank report template and a print out of your projected funding for future years.

The report template and documentation will be sent as an encrypted email, at a price of £245

The key benefits to your school include:

  •   Enabling the assessment of effective and efficient use of resources.
  •   Ability to respond to fluctuations in pupil numbers and funding.
  •   Support the requirements of the Schools Financial Value Standard.
  •   Comply with Ofsted and Audit recommendations.
  •   Allow modelling of different funding scenarios.

SFS can support Schools in completing the combined strategic / budget plan if required at an hourly rate.  Please contact Elaine Leith at Elaine.A.Leith@birmingham.gov.uk for further details. 

BCC Schools Contracts Data Collection for Lease Accounting (IFRS 16)

FAO: Head Teachers and School Business Managers/Bursars

To prepare the 2024/25 Final Accounts in line with required accounting policies, BCC’s final accounts team need to review all asset contracts including vehicle leases in order to assess them under IFRS 16. Please could you submit the 2024/2025 final accounts return providing details of all lease arrangements, Vehicles owned and any other contract arrangements. Please provide sufficient detail in the description field to determine if the contract includes physical assets and whether the asset identified are leased by the school.

As previously advised the general position is that schools are only permitted to borrow with the written consent of the Secretary of State. The taking on of liabilities under a lease is deemed to be borrowing, and up until 31 March 2024 the framework applied the finance/operating lease distinction. The Department for Education guidance can be found here. The items covered include such things as IT, telephony, catering equipment and vehicles. The consent is backdated to cover leases entered into before 1 April 2024.

Please note specific written consent will be required for any lease requiring the recognition of liabilities that involves items not covered by the Schedule, whenever they might have been entered into.

Please note: A nil Lease/ Contract return is required

Details requested must be provided by Friday, 31 January 2025 to Kiran Gill at harkiran.gill@birmingham.gov.uk.

Schools Budget Payment Schedule 2024/25  

Please find attached the updated cash sheet as of 01 Jan 2025. 

We hope you find this useful in reconciling the monthly instalment as well as grant payments the authority has paid so far this financial year. 

You will now need to select the school's name in cell D6. 

There is also an attachment giving a breakdown of the deductions from the monthly instalment. 

Statement of funding and provisional school budget payment schedule 2024 to 2025

January Grant Allocations

January grant allocations will be paid shortly.  

If you have trouble accessing the file, you may need to save the spreadsheet to your personal desktop, then unblock the file by right clicking, properties, and clicking unblock and applying changes. 

Any queries should now be directed to the SchoolsFinance@Birmingham.gov.uk mailbox in the first instance.

Correction of 2021/22 Early Years Funding and Bonus Payment for Early Years Settings and Schools

Over the past two years, it has come to our attention that there were inaccuracies in the funding paid to schools-based early years for the early education entitlement in 2021/22. A review by KPMG confirmed these discrepancies, which included underpayments and overpayments to various schools.

Several schools have been raising for the last few years that they have not received the right funding (underpaid) and this led to the Council commissioning a review by KPMG to determine the accuracy of the budget allocations for 2021/22. KPMG’s review confirmed inaccuracies in payments made to many Schools. Schools have recently been asked to confirm the figures produced by KPMG and where they are not in agreement to provide evidence to support the figure. Where evidence has been submitted from the school, this is the figure we have used to move forward.

A decision has been made that those schools who have not received enough funding for 2021/22 will now be paid the amounts owed, but funding will not be clawed back from Schools that have received an overpayment. Schools will receive this payment w/c 13 January 2025.

It is recognised that this creates a disparity between the funding payments between schools and PVI settings for the financial year 2021/22. We are therefore pleased to announce a one-off bonus payment for all Early Years settings and schools.

The total amount allocated for this bonus payment is £4.6 million and this payment will be distributed based on an average of the actual headcounts for the years 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 for each school/setting.

Schools that received overpayments in the past will have these amounts offset against the bonus payment as the aim is to ensure a fair distribution of funding to all settings and schools. This may mean that some schools will not receive the additional bonus payment at all.

The bonus payment is intended to support children's learning and development in the early years foundation stage. Schools will receive this additional bonus payment w/c 13 January 2025.

We have appreciated your understanding and cooperation as we have worked to resolve these historical funding issues.

Thank you for your continued dedication to providing high-quality early education.

For any queries, please contact the team at FairFunding@birmingham.gov.uk. 

Money Following Excluded Pupils (MFEP) Protocol

The Money Following Excluded Pupils (MFEP) Protocol, based on the School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2015, applies to all maintained and academy schools in Birmingham. It outlines financial arrangements for funding adjustments related to permanently excluded pupils, ensuring support for their ongoing education by adjusting budget shares of both excluding and receiving schools. The protocol includes specific provisions for children in care and those with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

This protocol will be applied to schools starting in January 2025. A copy of the protocol can be found at this link.

REMINDER: DfE Statutory School Census – January 2025

Every school in England has a statutory duty to submit a School Census, each term, under Section 537A of the Education Act 1996.

This week a letter will be sent to all schools (available on Perspective and email) with important information about the upcoming School Census, please kindly review and action.

Key dates:

  • Census date: Thursday 16 January 2025
  • Initial Return date: Monday 20 January 2025
  • Final submission date: Wednesday 12 February 2025

Please ensure this information is shared with school staff who will be completing the School Census return.

Schools must ensure data submitted to DfE COLLECT is accurate and valid. After the final submission date no amendments are accepted by the DfE. Incorrect or invalid data will impact your school's funding. Please read section 2.6 of the letter regarding duplicate pupils; the DfE will not authorise your schools return if schools have not resolved duplicate pupil queries.

For any queries, please contact the Data and Intelligence Team at SchoolCensus@birmingham.gov.uk.

Thank you for your support.

Reception and Year 2-3 Admissions - September 2025

A reminder that the final closing date for Reception and Year 2-3 admissions for entry in September 2025 is 11.59 pm on Wednesday 15 January 2025.

Online applications need to be submitted via the Birmingham City Council website www.birmingham.gov.uk/schooladmissions

Please can schools help raise awareness of the process as parents who apply late are less likely to be offered one of their preferred schools. All the information parents/carers need to support them with making their application is available on the council's website www.birmingham.gov.uk/schooladmissions. 

More advice and support is also available from Children’s Services on 0121 303 1888 or by emailing admissions@birmingham.gov.uk.

Places will be announced on Primary National Offer Day, Wednesday 16 April 2025.

Thank you for your support.

Early Education Entitlement 

Parental Declarations

This notice applies to all providers of early education entitlement places - Maintained Schools, Independent Schools and Academies as well as PVI's.

The  EEE Parent Declaration Form was updated in January 2024 to reflect the new entitlement offers that have been / are being introduced from April 2024 – September 2025.

You must ensure that you have a signed parent declaration form in place for all for all funded 9-23 month, 2, 3 and 4 year olds accessing a place. Please ensure that you are using the most current version.

The parent declaration form is used to determine where funding is paid, for example in the case of a EEE audit, investigating duplicate claims and evidencing late claims. It is therefore imperative that the form is completed with parents so they understand what they are agreeing to.

The declarations need to be signed by parents each term (you must not agree more than one term in advance) and state clearly what term and what hours are being agreed. Incomplete forms can result in loss of or claw-back of funding.

The parent declaration forms can be found on EYMIS: www.ted-birmingham.org.uk

  • Username: PVI2 (please note this is a capital i not the number one)
  • Password: PVI2year (please note this is a capital i not the number one)

If you choose not to use the BCC parent declaration form you must be able to provide the equivalent signed paperwork that includes at a minimum all the information and declarations on the BCC parental declaration form. Failure to do so can result in loss of or claw-back of funding.

If you have any queries please email earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk

Termly Census Claims

This notice applies to all providers of early years funded (Early Education Entitlement) places - Maintained Schools and Nurseries, Independent Schools and Academies.

Every term providers are required to submit their early years child data onto Collect for your Census submission.

The final DfE authorised Census submission is used to calculate the early years payments so it is imperative that providers submit their claim in full and accurately.

Please ensure that all children have the correct number of funded hours recorded against them. Children with zero funded hours against them (even if providers have recorded a number of hours at the setting) will not receive any funding - funding can only be calculated where there are funded hours recorded.

For working entitlement claims providers will need to submit their eligibility codes. Please ensure any codes are eligible for the term you are claiming the working hours. To ensure a code is eligible providers must validate the code on ECS: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/oefe/birmingham/provider

For children eligible for the 2 year disadvantaged funding, Free School Meals and EYPP providers must have eligible codes recorded on the signed parent declaration forms. We may request these codes to confirm eligibility.

The terms and conditions of funding detailed in the EEE Provider Agreement, as well as information about working entitlement claims, checking eligibility and the parent declaration forms, can be found on EYMIS: www.ted-birmingham.org.uk

  • Username: PVI2 (please note this is a capital i not the number one)
  • Password: PVI2year (please note this is a capital i not the number one)

For any queries about funded places, please email earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk  

For queries about a Census submission on Collect please email schoolcensus@birmingham.gov.uk

Working Hours Places

For children to access a working hour funded place in Spring 2025, parents must have received an eligible code on or before 31st December 2024.

The local authority cannot fund codes that have a validity start date of on or after the 1st January 2025.

It is the childcare providers responsibility to check the date on the code before offering a working hours place. You must do this by entering the code on ECS and then check the validity start date of it to make sure it is eligible for the current term: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/oefe/birmingham/la/schools

You must check the date before allowing the child to access any working hours for the term.

Further information about working hours and validating codes can be found on EYMIS: www.ted-birmingham.org.uk

  • Username: PVI2 (please note this is a capital i not the number one)
  • Password: PVI2year (please note this is a capital i not the number one)

For any queries regarding working hours entitlement, please email earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk   

Deadline Extension for Autumn Term WellComm Data Return.

FAO: Primary Schools and Nursery Schools

Thank you for using the WellComm Toolkit to improve Speech, Language, and Communication (SLC) outcomes in your school or setting. The data collection returns for WellComm are demonstrating that targeted interventions offered by early years providers have improved children's levels of Speech, Language, and Communication development.

Thank you to those settings and schools that have submitted their Autumn term screening results. For those schools and settings that have not had chance to submit their screening results, we have extended the deadline to 12 January 2025.

To complete the survey please follow this link.

For queries or further information, please contact Leesa Heeley - Early Years and Childcare team at Leesa.heeley@birmingham.gov.uk.

Pupil Voice Project  (PVP) – making Birmingham a great place to grow up: extended to end of January

Great News! The Pupil Voice Project launched on 21 November will now run until the end of January. So there is now even more time to be part of this exciting project to better understand pupil’s experiences of inclusion, what makes Birmingham a great place to grow up and how it can be made even better.

We want to hear from children and young people through all Birmingham schools asking some key questions with either a small focus group or 1:1 if more appropriate.

This group needs to include range of pupils including EHCP and SEN support; this should take no more than an hour’s session.

The project has been co-created and tested by Headteachers and children/young people. It is a long-term plan for change, where views will be taken to the highest level.

We want all pupil views at the heart of the Inclusion Charter; they are the agents of change.

Follow the link to hear some of the positive comments from our children/young people who took part in a pilot of this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JQMNzTVIkw

To access the questions and complete the feedback, please use the links below:

Deadline: 31 January 2025

For more information please email Kate Campbell at PupilVoice@birmingham.gov.uk

Free air quality monitors for Birmingham Schools

We are offering a free outdoor air quality monitor to every school in Birmingham. Your school should have received an email from our supplier, EarthSense, to arrange installation (please check spam filter) - if you haven’t, please let us know: SchoolsAQMonitors@birmingham.gov.uk

Poor air quality remains the single biggest environmental risk to public health, and we are particularly exposed to it at the school gate. The first step towards improving air quality is knowledge and awareness.  What is air quality, why does it matter, and what we can do to improve it?  Learn how schools can make a difference by accepting the offer of a free air quality monitor and resources, linking insight from real-time data to curricula and wider sustainability work around physical activity, healthy eating, active travel, road safety, climate change and Modeshift Stars accreditation

To hear more about the Schools’ Air Quality Monitoring Programme, listen to the recent Healthy Schools’ programme session: https://youtu.be/rrycfC3L8fo and see: School air quality sensors | Education | Brum Breathes . Any queries contact Sally James, Air Quality Policy Manager: SchoolsAQMonitors@birmingham.gov.uk

Find out more about our Modeshift STARS campaigns and initiatives and how YOU can get involved

Kooth Information Session – Healthy Schools Lunch & Learn

The Birmingham Healthy Schools Lunch & Learn series are online information/training sessions that are approximately 20 minutes long, aimed at school staff.

The next is about Kooth Wellbeing Service on Wednesday 22nd January at 12.30pm. The session is available to all school staff. 

The session will cover:

  • How students access the Kooth website
  • The registration process
  • Varying levels of support available
  • The safety aspects

This session will be delivered by Indi Sokhey. Indi is our local Kooth engagement lead. Part of Indi's role is to actively promote Kooth to staff working alongside young people, and also young people themselves. This is commonly facilitated through staff training sessions like this one and Kooth student assemblies.

To register for this webinar, please follow this link: Kooth Information Session

Bursaries available for Peacebuilding

Peacemakers have secured significant funding to provide bursaries for a new programme offered to schools. This programme will work with one year group, either Year 4 or Year 5, and includes:

  • 8-Week Peacebuilders Course: Tailored to the specific class and their needs, this course consists of 1-1.5 hour sessions per week, covering topics such as cooperation, affirmation, emotional literacy, empathy, exploring conflict, and conflict resolution.
  • Peer Mediator Training: At the end of the course, selected children will have the option to undergo Peer Mediator training, which includes 2 full days of training.
  • Support for Peer Mediation Scheme: To ensure the success of the Peer Mediation scheme in schools, Peacemakers will offer 2 twilight sessions or 1 half-day session with classroom staff, and 90 minutes of training for Lunchtime Supervisors. This training will explore different responses to conflict and the purpose of Peer Mediation, its script, and its role within the restorative approach to conflict.
  • Train the Trainer Day: The Peer Mediation Lead will be invited to a 'Train the Trainer' day, where they will receive all the necessary resources to successfully train mediators within their school, ensuring the longevity of the scheme. Ongoing support from Peacemakers will also be provided.

To find out more and apply for a bursary, please contact Libbs Packer at libbs@peacemakers.org.uk.

Sibs - For brothers and sisters of disabled children and adults

Sibs is dedicated to supporting individuals who have grown up with or are currently growing up with a disabled brother or sister. As the only UK charity representing the needs of over half a million young siblings and more than one and a half million adult siblings, Sibs plays a crucial role in their lives.

Interested in running group support for young siblings? The sibling group leader training session will equip you with all the necessary information to plan, run, and evaluate a local siblings group.

Details of the session:

  • Date: Wednesday, 26th March 2025
  • Time: 9:15 AM - 1:15 PM
  • Format: Online via Zoom

To book a place at the session and for more information, please visit Sibs Workshops and Training

Free Climate Action Workshops for Birmingham Primary Schools

Climate Ed is a charity offering free climate education to primary schools in Birmingham. They have worked with over 200 schools in London and, since September 2024, with several schools across Birmingham.

The programme they offer consists of five workshops spread over five weeks. The workshops are suitable for Years 4 (in the summer term), 5 and 6, and are completely free.

They are offering these workshops to all primary schools in and around Birmingham. Workshops can be scheduled for delivery in the second half of the current Spring term, and also for the Summer term. If schools are interested, please visit their website or contact Joshua Marchant,  Regional Programme Coordinator, at birmingham@climateed.net.

Testimonials

‘Climate Ed were fantastic and inspired the class to care about climate change even after the programme had finished.’  (Christchurch CoE Primary School, Sparkbrook)

‘I enjoyed the group work aspect to the workshop, and that the children had something to take home with them each week.’ (Pegasus Primary, Castle Vale)

‘Ofsted were intrigued and impressed with the opportunities it gave children to deepen their understanding of the world.’ (St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary, Westminster) 

This entry was posted by on 27/12/2024.

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